What can we do about pub across the road from our house.

[pubissues]

We live on a fairly quiet residential street. We live directly opposite a pub. It’s been there for years. We’ve lived here 10 years and never had a problem with it before. We have always heard some noise but nothing excessive. Landlords have always been respectful of their neighbours.

It changed hands about a year ago. New owner has invested loads in the pub and done it up. It’s become massively popular which is great for the new owner but rubbish for us. Obviously with the football it’s even busier.

They are now licensed to be open till 12.30 Friday and Saturday nights. They are slow at kicking people out and never seem to ask people to move on if they are standing outside talking (it is more like screaming because people are loud when they’ve been drinking!) It’s often after 1.30am before it quietens down. They have put 4 portaloos outside the pub, directly in front of our lounge windows. It’s still not enough toilets so there are people constantly leaving the pub, going down the road slightly and pissing in the hedges. Last night they were coming into ours and the neighbours drive and pissing on our drive. People congregate out the front of the pub all night long and are never asked to go back inside. They seem to allow people to leave carrying their glasses and glass bottles. Which are then dropped and smashed all the way along the road. The pub only has a couple of parking spaces out the front. There is a big car park about 5 mins walk away which is free in the evening. But people park all the way along our road including blocking drives so we can’t get our cars out.

we bought a house opposite a pub, we don’t expect silence. But this is ridiculous. The new manger actually went round to us and all the neighbours this week to apologise as there had been complaints (not from me.) I told him my issues and he said he would try to improve things, but I’m not seeing any evidence of this. What can we do? I don’t want to mess up someone’s business but this is getting out of hand and it’s getting worse not better. I’m going to go and speak to the manager today. But if nothing changes who do we go to? Is it the license people at the council, or is it a noise complaint? Can we raise the parking and littering with anyone? I really don’t want to start making official complaints but I don’t know what else to do at the moment.

If nothing changes in the next week following on from your chat today - contact the Anti-social Behaviour Officer and the Licensing Team at your Council.

They will have stipulations on their licence including nobody outside after usually 10pm (can to smoke but meant to be quick and back in not loitering outside) plastic glasses only outside in common even plastic after a certain time inside. The portaloo situation is reasonable to complain about, that’s only reasonable for occasional special events (football perhaps counts). I think a carefully worded letter to the landlord requesting no drinking outside after 10 or 11, dealing with the glass situation and ensuring there’s sufficient inside toilets is proportionate, but be reasonable and say, once the football has finished.

I don’t think any council allows portaloos outside a pub. Start making complaints to the council, all establishments have to adhere to their licence as well as the law

I don’t think people peeking in her garden was part of the house buying process though.

Our local pub has a licence until midnight daily, but nobody is outside after 10.30 at the latest (they start moving you inside at 10 on these rare warm evenings), I live 100m from it and even with the football last night we were not disturbed by the 200 ish people inside (2 floors, large building and full!) but they don’t stand for bad behaviour, had security on etc

Good luck with your meeting today.

We had a pub nestled in a residential area that was the best in the town, all the neighbours went and everyone co-existed nicely. Then landlord retired, and new owner attracted a different crowd - its neighbours stopped going as there appeared to be drug dealing going on, and it went massively downhill.

The neighbours took it to Environmental Health and it took some time, but eventually the new owner got fed up with the constant battle and left, and now there is a new owner and less hassle.

I hope you are able to get something changed - to the people saying "well you bought a house by a pub" - I have seen how pubs can change from wonderful places that are an asset to their community, to nasty hovels that are instead a blight - so I completely sympathise with the OP.

This is a good call. And, depending on how many people he can reasonably expect to attend, might be a requirement under Martyn’s Law.

Same on school parking threads. Yes we knew there was a school at the end of the road when we bought the house. My kids all went to the school. When my eldest started 18 years ago there were 250 kids in the school. That has doubled.

So yes although the school has always been there, the situation has changed a lot. Just as the situation has changed for the OP.

Agree that the OP needs to concentrate on the behaviour and the issues being caused rather than the pub itself. She is not asking for the pub to be shut down as that would be unreasonable. It is totally reasonable to point out the noise, the litter, the men pissing in public. To the landlord in the first instance and if no improvement, police and local council.

Also, keep a record of what has happened on 'x' date and time and the conversations you have had with the Pub Manager.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Just to add, they have got security. They sat on their phones last night and ignored it all 😂😂

My DD has worked in a couple of neighbourhood pubs. These are the restrictions in place as a courtesy to local residents: 'airlock' double doors (so less noise as people leave, garden closed at 10pm, doorman supervising those going out to smoke (no outside drinking after 10pm) and windows closed after 10pm. I think these are all reasonable adjustments.

Have you checked if the portaloos are there because of bathroom refurbishment? You said the landlord was spending a lot of money on the place and I have never come across a pub having 'overflow' toilets.

This is it. We lived opposite a pub for 6 years and had no issues. Antisocial behaviour isn’t inevitable around pubs. If it does happen (especially to the scale in the OP) she has every right to complain.

I thought that, however, toilets in the street and people urinating in gardens / parking over driveways … not acceptable!
OP is call the police and record the people breaking the law. I’d also look up licensing laws and see which laws they’re breaking and report to the council licensing department.

As many have said, check with the council. Have they been given a permission for the portaloos? What are their license say about noise and closing times, and about drinks being carried out? What about maximum capacity in terms of fire safety? I suspect they are doing many things that are illegal and will get them in trouble.

To people commenting on here re: living next to pub - please read the OP. They are fine with a normal pub, but this is way beyond what a "normal" pub is. Its completely bonkers. Pubs have strict regulations on noise after hours, they should control the noise after closing time and should make sure customers leave quietly. They can't have drinks out the boundary of the pub. They should not have portaloos and people pissing all over the place, it clearly means the pub is operating beyond capacity.

You obviously haven't read the full post.

Motion sensored sprinklers

@pubissues I would get on it now, not wait another 2 weeks. There will be the Euros in 2 years and another World Cup in 4 years. Better to get the issues ironed out sooner rather than them coming back around later.

I think I would move

Pubs change over time though, especially if a new manager/landlord takes over.

Where I live, a pub that used to be absolutely heaving much of the time is now really quiet. Another one that rarely had more than a couple of dozen older people in it got a new landlord who started doing great food, and he put a lot of money and effort into making the large garden a lovely outside space.

It's absolutely heaving now, and on a decent summer evening there could be 100 people outside talking and laughing. There are 2 houses that back on to the side of the garden and they got proper hacked off with it. They tried complaining to the council, but there were no licensing conditions or noise regulations being breached so the council didn't do anything about it.

The landlord introduced a rule that the garden would be closed at 10pm though, which I thought was pretty decent of him.

I'd never buy a house near a pub.

The portaloos sound grim though.

Unless neighbours contest or E.Health or the police speak up, by law the landlord is granted anything he wants pretty much because that's licensing guidelines. So if no relevant bodies don't think there will be an issue or aware, they won't speak up.

Unfortunately all the neighbours of the OP didn't see the license application, and missed an opportunity to stop this happening. It's much easier to stop it than to change it down the line.

Pubs are pubs aren’t they they’re bound to be noisy. If you don’t like noise moving opposite a pub wasn’t the smartest move. Perhaps you should have moved next to a library.

have you never seen a pub?

I was in a pub garden last week, and the licence was no one was allowed outside after 10pm, as it’s a heavily populated residential area. For at least half an hour before, staff were warning everyone, there were lots of staff to help usher people inside, it was rigorously inforced. So what I am saying is, there are rules, the pub should enforce these, and if not, complain complain complain! And get all your neighbours to do the same!

Apologies if this has already been said, but having a sign asking customers to leave quietly is required by licensing in areas near homes.

The pub is responsible for the customers leaving the venue and dispersing from the area quietly. You should speak to the licensing department if your council as they will be able to support this. It is possible that with anti social behaviour the pub may be required to use door staff, or will lose the right to stay open later. You must report all instances of smashed glass, public urination etc for them to be aware this is happening though.